Why did you buy a house in my neighboorhood?

[Mickeyluver37]

The wood will bring someone allot of $$$$!
I lived in New England my whole life (recently just relocated to CA)...saw it all the time. Developers coming into some lovely old towns, older neighborhoods, buying up any available land and the first thing they do is hire someone to cut down all the trees to make some serious money.

I wish that were the case in my yard! These trees are only 15 years or younger, but this *is* a cookie cutter neighborhood with small lots, so the trees are just getting too big. It's the cost of having them removed that is overwhelming. I wish I could actually MAKE money by having them removed!

 

[Mickey's Minion]

But don't move to the mountains and then cut down every tree in site because you want a perfectly clear lot.. If pavement is what you want, stay in the city.. If you want grass and nothing else, go to the suburbs and get yourself a cookie-cutter house - or move into an HOA..

In our Mountains, depending on the town, you are either required or highly encouraged to clear cut a huge swath around your house for a fire break. You need to keep x amount of clear land between your house and the edge of the trees, unless you prefer to come home someday to ashes.

 

[princess momma]

Our house was built on what used to be crop land, so no trees. When we moved in we had to start from scratch and I have to say I did a fantastic job planning my landscaping. I absolutely love what I did to the yard. If for some reason we moved I would probably gut the yard and make the yard my own. I don't see anything wrong with that.

 

[Disney Doll]

I'm sorry, but ...






A house built in the 1980's is brand-new by my lights.

I would agree except then I stop and think that 1980 was almost 30 years ago!!!!!!! It's the year I graduated from high school.

If I had known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself!

 

[disykat]

I can relate to the OP. We specifically bought our house in a neighborhood with trees. We told our realtor that was one of our main criteria for a home.

One of our neighbors is cutting down all their trees and it makes me sad. I can understand because I know they are fearful of trees falling, but it still makes me sad.

A tree business went around the neighborhood distributing fliers and I think they're trying to scare everyone into having their trees cut down. Thankfully only this one person has fallen for it so far. They cut down pretty much every tree over 4 ft tall. Although I realize there's always that danger when you have tall trees, we've lived in this neighborhood for 12 years and no one has had a tree fall down yet.

We had a tree guy come out a few years ago when we had limbs coming too close to our home. We had four trees cut out, but you really can't even tell. He was all about evaluating what trees we could SAVE, not about talking us into removing everything.

 

[shrubber]

And from the looks of things the only benefits of this are going to be mulch and firewood, not a great trade off for killing a beautiful tree!

Tree vs. Freezing this winter?

Firewood sounds pretty good to me.

 

[Angelhalo]

Sorry, my use of the word "old" was just to contrast the NEW way of doing things-- cut it all down and build. I do realize that by any standard our neighborhood isn't really old. Maybe I should have said "older"?

At least some of the trees are oaks-- and I can see the inside of them! They are not diseased in the least.

I am "getting in anyone else's business" . Their house, they can do what they want. But I am a tree lover and I love this neighborhood for all the trees. It makes me sad that someone would cut it all down. And I am cranky with a headache from the constant sound of the chainsaw! And from the looks of things the only benefits of this are going to be mulch and firewood, not a great trade off for killing a beautiful tree!

It might be a great trade to them, and its their house

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I'm guessing this is a case where an HOA would have been beneficial for the OP.

I would suppose they moved into your neighborhood b/c they liked it and they found the house they love. Redoing the landscape is not all that uncommon even if it involves chopping down some trees.

 

[luvsJack]

I can completely understand how the OP feels. I find it very sad to see folks in our community cutting down all thier trees. We used to be completely surrounded by trees, had a completely shaded yard. And then came Katrina. Now all our beautiful trees are gone.

When you cut down an old oak tree, its not like you can just go replace it. It took years and years for that tree to grow there! I just cannot imagine not enjoying the look of an old oak tree--they are just beautiful.

 

[clarabelle]

I think this is interesting.
Anytime a thread comes up that mentions a Home owners association people here usually hate them.
That is one of the things that HOAs usually do -prevent someone coming into an established neighborhood and drastically altering the look of the lot.

 

[clovergirl5]

Their property, their right to cut em down if they want. If you didn't want the trees cut down, you should have bought the property.

We are in the process of purchasing 40 more acres and my dh plans on logging some of it off to inturn pay for the property.

As for the chainsaw noise, does your county have a noise ordinance? If not, nothing you can do about exept put in ears plugs.

 

[Wall-E1]

Apologies to the OP for straying off topic here but this is plain wrong.
Trees do in fact intercept airborne particles, much in the same way that homes with aluminum siding do or the bricks on smokestacks. Darn near anything on earth traps particulates.
Heat is not a pollutant.
carbon monoxide,sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide are all Naturally occuring.
( yes there is a teeny percentage that comes from burning things, natural things by the way )

And plants EMIT nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide for cryin out loud. One of the main sources of sulfur dioxide IS plants

Let me start by saying this about your post-

You start by saying this information is "plain wrong". Below is a link to an EPA study on how effective trees are in fighting air pollution. The scientists even took into account the BVOC's (nitrogen oxides, ozone, etc.) that you are so worried about. Their results indicate that air pollution in the area that they are studying would be reduced by 8%, and the small amount of chemicals trees give off naturally would be cancelled out by the benefits. Here's the link:

http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/programs/cufr/products/psw_cufr696_SacramentoAirQuality.pdf

Alas, in your world, the findings of the scientific community are probably wrong, when compared to your theory of aluminum siding.

I did try to find evidence of aluminum siding and bricks helping to reduce air pollution, but could not find any. Would you be kind enough to post some evidence of this breaking edge, scientific news? I'm not even sure how your theory would work. You see, trees are living organisms. Bricks and aluminum siding are not. Being a living organism, a tree sucks in and absorbs the pollutants, and also performs the added benefit of turning pollutants into amino acids. (My apologies if this is getting too sciencey for you). Aluminum siding and bricks are not living organisms and therefore cannot suck pollutants from the air. Maybe you are confusing air pollutants with everyday dust?

You state that heat is not a pollutant. No argument there. I never said it was, and either did the article. So, I don't know who you are debating that point with.

Carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide are naturally occurring. So, what's your point? It doesn't make it any less toxic or deadly for humans to breathe in. Their levels have been rising because of industrialization. Are you suggesting that we should just ignore this because they are natural? Should urban areas stop issuing air quality alerts to people since these chemicals are natural? Of course not. We should try to reduce their levels so we have clean air to breathe. Of course, you are probably of the mindset that we should just ignore the problem since it's all natural. We can stand by as our atmosphere slowly chokes us to death, leaving behind a planet unsustainable to human life, except for the people that were smart enough to live in brick houses with aluminum siding. The other option would be cleaning the air of these natural toxins so that our children may be able to breathe.

As to sulfur dioxide, plants are not the major sources of its emission. The burning of fossil fuels are.

So, I guess in your anti-tree world, we should cut down all the forests and rain forests and build houses with aluminum siding in their place, as that is the most effective way to clean up our air. Right?!?!?

Trees in fact are an excellent aid in helping to clean the air that we breathe - much more effective then aluminum siding.

 

[Planogirl]

Tree vs. Freezing this winter?

Firewood sounds pretty good to me.

You sell trees and you're clearly anti-tree. Interesting combination.

Personally, I'll take trees over shrubs any day. Even though a group of them are good for birds of course.

Curious, how is oxygen replenished?

 

[shrubber]

You sell trees and you're clearly anti-tree. Interesting combination.

Personally, I'll take trees over shrubs any day. Even though a group of them are good for birds of course.

Curious, how is oxygen replenished?

I'm not anti tree at all. Is there even such a thing?
I just realize that they are a useful renewable resource.
A tree cut down has innumerable uses.

 

[clovergirl5]

I'm not anti tree at all. Is there even such a thing?
I just realize that they are a useful renewable resource.
A tree cut down has innumerable uses.

Yeah Shrubber, Im sure every single person here writes on paper Maybe they should be calling those companies that cut em down for paper and christmas cards etc. if they want to complain about cutting down trees

 

[shrubber]

Let me start by saying this about your post-
sigh, ok I'll take these one by one
You start by saying this information is "plain wrong". Below is a link to an EPA study on how effective trees are in fighting air pollution. The scientists even took into account the BVOC's (nitrogen oxides, ozone, etc.) that you are so worried about. Their results indicate that air pollution in the area that they are studying would be reduced by 8%, and the small amount of chemicals trees give off naturally would be cancelled out by the benefits. Here's the link:

http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/programs/cufr/products/psw_cufr696_SacramentoAirQuality.pdf

Alas, in your world, the findings of the scientific community are probably wrong, when compared to your theory of aluminum siding.

I did try to find evidence of aluminum siding and bricks helping to reduce air pollution, but could not find any. Would you be kind enough to post some evidence of this breaking edge, scientific news? I'm not even sure how your theory would work. You see, trees are living organisms. Bricks and aluminum siding are not. Being a living organism, a tree sucks in and absorbs the pollutants, and also performs the added benefit of turning pollutants into amino acids. (My apologies if this is getting too sciencey for you). Aluminum siding and bricks are not living organisms and therefore cannot suck pollutants from the air. Maybe you are confusing air pollutants with everyday dust?
You stated in your ealier post that trees trap particulate matter, yes they do, like I said darn near everything traps particulate matter, have you ever had to clean your windows outside? Trees are not special in that regard
You state that heat is not a pollutant. No argument there. I never said it was, and either did the article. So, I don't know who you are debating that point with.
Erg, I'll go find your earlier post, maybe I misread it but I doubt it
Carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide are naturally occurring.
So, what's your point?My point was you called them pollutants in you earlier post!!! It doesn't make it any less toxic or deadly for humans to breathe in. Their levels have been rising because of industrialization. Are you suggesting that we should just ignore this because they are natural? Should urban areas stop issuing air quality alerts to people since these chemicals are natural? Of course not. We should try to reduce their levels so we have clean air to breathe. Of course, you are probably of the mindset that we should just ignore the problem since it's all natural. We can stand by as our atmosphere slowly chokes us to death, leaving behind a planet unsustainable to human life, except for the people that were smart enough to live in brick houses with aluminum siding. The other option would be cleaning the air of these natural toxins so that our children may be able to breathe.
Your statement makes no sense to me...we should try to eliminate naturally occurring gases in our atmosphere? That's absurd
As to sulfur dioxide, plants are not the major sources of its emission. The burning of fossil fuels are.
wrong, plants, oceans and volcanoes are.
So, I guess in your anti-tree world, we should cut down all the forests and rain forests and build houses with aluminum siding in their place, as that is the most effective way to clean up our air. Right?!?!?

Trees in fact are an excellent aid in helping to clean the air that we breathe - much more effective then aluminum siding.

Trees do not clean the air.

 

[shrubber]

Yeah Shrubber, Im sure every single person here writes on paper Maybe they should be calling those companies that cut em down for paper and christmas cards etc. if they want to complain about cutting down trees

Yep,
I love trees.
I have grown and sold more trees than all the people on DIS combined ( willing to bet )
I have also chopped down and killed more too.
Trees are a resource.
Beautiful, yes, there are trees that if they died, I would be sad to them go.
But would I cut them down to keep warm? Build a house? A violin? You bet

 

[shrubber]

I could understand if a couple of trees needed to be removed for the purposes you stated. But OP was insinuating that just about all the trees on the property were being taken down. I'm a "tree hugger" type. I think if you remove a tree, you plant another one somewhere else in its place.

Trees clean both soil and air. I'm surprised you don't know that, working in the tree and shrubbery business. Please see link below. Pay special attention to #6, which explains how trees clean the air.

http://forestry.about.com/od/treephysiology/tp/tree_value.htm

6. Trees Clean the Air
Trees help cleanse the air by intercepting airborne particles, reducing heat, and absorbing such pollutants as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. Trees remove this air pollution by lowering air temperature, through respiration, and by retaining particulates.

Bolding mine Trees cleanse the air by...reducing heat.
Shade does not cleanse the air

 

[shrubber]

Oh and Wall E

Your link is to some Global Warming site?

Nice try.

Talk about science.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Well then you would have hated us. We bought our home because it was perfect for us. We loved the neighborhood as well. Our house was in move in condition. We did however have many large trees in the yard. Upon having our home inspected the inspector said it would be in our best interest to get rid of some of the trees as they could be a hazard. One tree ( a hug oak) was 3 feet from our kitchen window. It could have caused immense damage to our home. We tried to keep what trees we could but in the end we had to call the tree guy a few years later to remove the rest. They were starting to die and kept getting infested with carpenter ants and we could not keep exterminating. It simply was not safe anymore. Of course to the naked eye the trees were fine. The tree guy even sold the lumber because they weren't completely dead yet. However, they were a danger to our home. We did keep a few very large trees that we could have cut down to minimize our gutter cleaning time but we chose not to. We love trees but we weren't going to look for another house just because we didn't want wild kingdom in the backyard.
Oh- and we would have loved to buy a brand new home in a new development but the prices here are outrageous. Besides, we love it here!